Summary of the May 2025 Board Meeting

This is the 14th meeting of the Local Area SEND Partnership Board.

1. Local Area SEND Priority Action Plan Report

The results from the Local Area SEND Inspection in January give 3 priority areas to focus on. This report outlines the action plan to be sent to Ofsted by 4th June. The report also shows proposed changes to the Board and the structure of the subgroups. These changes will make sure that the work of the priority plan will be carried out.

There will now be 3 subgroups. Instead of being a separate group, communication and engagement will be a part of the 3 groups. A communications strategy group will be created. This group will report directly to the SEND executive group.

The report recommends that the Board:

• agree to the content of the priority plan

• agree to the changes to the Board and subgroup structure

The Board discussed the plan and recommended key points for communication be added.

Existing recovery plans for priority areas have been included in the plan. Ofsted agreed that they were robust plans. The pan is therefore a continuation of the work that has already been taking place.

All recommendations were approved. Along with the additions made during the discussion.

2. Joint Commissioning Plan 2025-2027

This 2-year plan is focussed on the immediate priority actions from the inspection. It also includes longer-term improvements. It supports how the Local Area SEND Partnership will achieve the vision set out in the:

• SEND and Alternative Provision Strategy 2025-2029

• Priority Action plan

The Board was recommended to:

• approve the draft Joint Commissioning Plan

• note the further consultation needed before it could be finalised and published

The Board approved all recommendations

3. Children's Mental Health Update

This report sets out the current position of the Children's Mental Health pathway in Wirral. It covers service developments, waiting times and thresholds to access services. The Head of Clinical Service for Wirral CAMHS delivered the information as a presentation to the Board.

There was a detailed and productive discussion about how the service could better support SEND children and young people. The Board agreed that they need to understand the following:

• The threshold of needs

• How the mental health pathway is communicated to parents and professionals

As a result of this discussion, meetings will take place between colleagues in education and health. They will work to together to create solutions for improvement.

4. Local Area Annual SEND Survey

This report outlines the work that has taken place to develop annual the SEND survey for parents/carers and young people. The report includes the questions developed for the survey. It also shows the engagement and communication plan for the survey.

The reports asks the Board to:

• note the engagement to date in co-producing the SEND Survey

• agree the content of the SEND Survey

• approve the proposed publication timeline within the report

• approve the proposed channels for distributing the SEND Survey

The outcome of the Board's discussion on the SEND Survey was that:

• The survey is too large and needs to be broken down so it is easier for people to complete. Public health surveys could be used as an example.

• A publication date can be agreed when the changes have been made.

• Distribution needs to be looked at again as it will now be separate smaller surveys.

As well as the Board papers. In this months pack you will also find a briefing note on the case study deep dive that took place before the April Board. The briefing note details the actions that have been taken or put in place following this session.